“When you take ownership of your accomplishments,
you can be proud without arrogance.”
— Simon Sinek
I ended my last blog by committing to review 2023, the accomplishments, milestones, moments of purpose and pride, and even the challenges. I like to support and encourage others into a positive mindset. So, I was recommending that at the end of a year, when we may feel tired and focus only on what didn’t get completed, we might reframe and count the accomplishments first and then celebrate all that did occur. My approach to life and work is to mine for strengths and use them when things get hard.
This week, I didn’t take my own good counsel.
After nursing myself through weeks of the common cold and a persistent cough that steals my sleep, I started to do my annual review of the year.
Instead of counting my blessings, I metaphorically entertained the idea of going on vacation out west to the Rockies and returning from the high altitudes with a cleansed mind. I wanted to wash away all of 2023 and the hardships I navigated. Even though I did come through them in one piece.
My sleep-deprived, coughing-self — who presents to the world as positive and can-do in all situations — was having a small crisis of having lost my buoyancy and ability to reframe.
I confess this to you because I, too, have my moments and often reclaim my commitment to self-awareness, self-control, and finding the strength to break free from saboteur voices in my head by working it through with the help of someone else.
If I dance with all of my own thoughts and don’t connect with the real world, I risk losing perspective.
As I worked through the months of 2023, my focus was not on what worked but mostly on what hadn’t worked. I started the year off sick, stayed sick for months, and even had an unplanned emergency surgery. I finally caught the dreaded COVID despite vaccines and boosters. My pipes froze in the bomb cyclone, and construction on my precious cottage lane made for a muddy winter.
I canceled my travel plans. I hunkered down. Life felt like I was moving through quicksand. The economy was vulnerable, and my business felt the downturn.
Though I worked through every hurdle and challenge, my focus was on the fragility of relationships and the weight of finding the path to do the right thing in all situations.
I was coming up short in my assessment of the year and myself. But before I was able to finish my pity-party-loop-of-thoughts, I started the list that balances my mindset.
As much as I would like to erase the year from my experience, it would also mean letting go of the fun I had: a Bruce Springsteen concert with best buddies, being cared for by friends after COVID found me, working side-by-side with leaders through the challenges, visits from friends overseas, time with horses wild and at liberty, expanding my dog family, moving into a house waiting for us, helping others, cruising to the wilds of Alaska, celebrating Thanksgiving with family, quality time with friends, exploring romance briefly, letting go of things that no longer worked or were a place that I could provide service and living, breathing, plodding, stretching, and learning.
I only needed to lift my head, chase away the tiredness, and find the gratitude mix of stuff (I hesitate to label it good and bad) that comes with living a rich life.
No one said it would be easy, or fair, or always fun. But it is in living, sharing, and assessing what is important that I find my well-being.
My momentary loss of truth north can be chalked up to being human.
I won’t bury my head in the sand or put 2023 up in the attic to be forgotten. I will instead try again and take my own suggestions.
I will review 2023 for hardships, lessons, and accomplishments. The scale balances to the positive and the hopeful. I am rich in relationships. I have my health. The future holds great promise. It is mine to find and work to discover.
I am grateful for the path that has brought me here. Confession complete. Attitude adjustment found.
• Am I the only one who has to make this thought loop?
Wishing you the best in the final days of 2023 and all that is to come in 2024. May we travel the same roads together and in support of each other.
Leslie
“Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.”
— Lovelle Drachman
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